Political Text Messages Banned in Taiwan's Elections Tomorrow

Taiwan's Central Election Commission has warned politicians that they are not allowed to send campaign SMSs to voters on election day - due this weekend. Under Taiwan's election law, campaigning on election day is forbidden, and while SMS messages are explicity mentioned - the Election Commission reminded politicians that messages sent by their campaign teams would be a breach of the law.

"To send such a message is an offense, according to that article," Election Commission secretary-general, Teng Tien-yu said. Offenders will be fined between NT$500,000 to NT$5 million.

The nationalist Kuomintang (KMT), which favours closer ties with China, had a comfortable lead over the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in final opinion polls released late last month. The island's sluggish economy and the future of its often tense relationship with China are the issues dominating both Saturday's contest and the presidential campaign.

Posted to the site on 11th January 2008